Intermission: If the Love You Get is Equal to the Love You Give
by nicnac918
Summary: Then what's to stop you from trying? Sequel to "Never a Sane Moment"


AN: Despite the somewhat anachronistic posting order, this fic actually goes after "Never a Sane Moment" and right before "AA: Amnesiacs (Not-So-)Anonymous."

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When Conner's super-hearing picked up the sound of Clark's voice on his way back from school, it took a small effort of will not to super-speed back home; he didn't bother to fight the grin. Conner loved it when Clark came to visit. Clark was the best. Of course, Conner wished Clark could visit _more_, but that was probably just Conner being greedy. After all, Clark had a normal job, a superhero job, the Justice League thing that was still just getting started, plus Conner was pretty sure _something_ was going on with him and Lois lately, though they were pretty careful to act normal around Conner. With all that, it was pretty impressive Clark had any time at all to visit the little brother he had never even originally wanted and who had only come about due to a series of unlikely events, much less time to stop by or have Conner come to see him in Metropolis a couple of times a week.

"… only found out about his memories a week ago," Clark was saying.

"A week ago? Clark, this could be dangerous; why didn't you tell me about it when you first found out?" Martha said, sounding distressed. Conner frowned. Martha was really tough, a bit scary sometimes even, especially when Conner hadn't done his homework. If she was worried, then whatever it was couldn't be good.

"Because I don't really think he's up to anything, Mom," Clark responded. "If he was, don't you think he would have done it _before_ I found out what was going on? Well, done something actually bad that is."

By this point, Conner had reached the front door. He dithered a bit, but finally decided to just go in. He wanted to hear more, but it wasn't worth the risk of Clark figuring out he was standing there and lecturing him on eavesdropping. Besides, Clark might tell him anyways if he just asked.

"Clark," Conner said happily as he opened the door.

"Hey Conner," said Clark with a smile, getting up out of his chair and sweeping Conner up in a hug. Conner loved Clark's hugs. Partially because Clark was even stronger than Conner, so Conner could squeeze as hard as he wanted without having to worry about breaking anything. But mostly because Clark was just so big and warm, he practically engulfed Conner in his hugs and Conner always felt safe, protected, loved.

"How are you doing?" Clark asked.

"Good," Conner said, walking over to Martha to give her a kiss on the cheek.

"And how was school?" Martha added.

"Good," Conner repeated. Martha rolled her eyes at him, but didn't try to stop him from snatching a couple of sugar cookies off the plate on the kitchen counter.

"Sooo," Conner said, plopping down at the kitchen table. "Whose memories did you find out about? Not that I was eavesdropping," Conner rushed to explain, "I just overheard on accident."

Clark and Martha shared a look, a "how much do we tell him" kind of look, and Conner scowled. He wasn't a little kid.

"You know what, I actually have some paperwork I need to do. I'll talk to you more later Clark," Martha said, exiting the room.

"Talk to you later, Mom," Clark called after her.

"What's going on?" Conner asked. He didn't know why Martha would have left the room, but it didn't seem like a good sign.

"Conner," Clark said, and then he sighed. "Look, I talked to him about week ago and again a couple of days after that and… Lex has his memory back."

Lex was back, like _back_ back? Conner knew that Lex had been _alive_ for a while now, but without his memories, it hadn't really seemed to count. But if he had gotten them back, well that had to _mean_ something didn't it? What if he wanted to get involved in Conner's life and messed everything up? What if he didn't want Conner at all? What if-

"Hey, hey," Clark said when Conner didn't respond right away. He got up and knelt down in front of Conner, putting his hands on Conner's shoulders. "I know this is kind of a big deal, but we're going to work it out. It doesn't have to-" Clark broke off abruptly and stared off into the distance.

"Shi-oot, I've got to go. Look I'll come back tomorrow and we'll talk. Until then, I want you to promise you won't try to go see Lex, okay?" said Clark, giving Conner a serious look.

"But-" Conner protested.

"Conner!"

"Okay, I won't," agreed Conner sullenly.

"Good," said Clark. "I'll see you tomorrow. Love you." Then, between one second and the next, he was gone.

Conner sat quietly at the table and finished eating his cookies, before going to his room and laying down on the bed.

And then, he thought.

On the one hand, Lex wasn't supposed to be a very nice person. Conner knew that back when he had thought _he_ was Lex, he had done something to hurt Martha, though no one would tell him what exactly. And there was no shortage of people willing to say bad things about Lex, though Lois and Martha never did it when they knew Conner could hear at least. In fact, Tess, before she had asked Clark to take care of him, had told Conner all kinds of horror stories about Lex. Even Clark acted kind of wary of him.

On the other hand, Lex was sort of his dad, in the same way that Clark was. (Not that Conner thought of Clark as his dad, because Clark didn't want that and Conner was happy being just his little brother, _really_.) Plus whenever Conner asked Clark about Lex, Clark would _never_ say anything bad, but sometimes he _would_ tell stories about back when they used to be friends, which always made Lex sound really cool (well except for in the ones where he got knocked unconscious).

The whole thing was confusing. And the more Conner thought about it, the more confusing it got. The only thing for it, Conner decided after a few hours contemplation, was to talk to Lex. Conner knew that he said he wouldn't, but it wasn't like it was dangerous or anything. It was like Clark said, if Lex was going to do something bad, he would have already. Clark was just being over-protective.

Conner got up and, with half an ear on Martha in the other room, snuck out. Then he turned toward Metropolis and ran.

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AN2: Sequel is AA: Amnesiacs (Not-So-)Anonymous (Story ID: 8194209)


End file.
